Coffee With The Lord

Are you facing all kinds of challenges and issues?  Are you discouraged – do you feel defeated?  Are you tempted, as they say, to just “throw in the towel?”

Where did that figure of speech come from anyway?  They say It comes from boxing… “throwing in the towel” (or sponge) was a sign that a fighter was accepting defeat.  The idiom means a person has decided to stop “fighting” because they know that they cannot succeed; they are admitting defeat.

Listen, If anyone had reasons to “throw in the towel” it was Apostle Paul!  However, here’s what he said…

“We have this treasure [salvation – having the Lord’s abiding presence within] in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.  We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.  For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh…Knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.” (From 2 Corinthians 4:7-14 ESV)

So, regardless of all the adversity Apostle Paul faced, was he ready to “throw in the towel?”  Not on your life!  He had a perspective that reached beyond what he was going through presently – he had an “eternal perspective” that reached beyond the grave!  Here’s what he went on to say…

“So we do not lose heart (we’re not ready to “throw in the towel”)!  Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison!  We look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal!” (From 2 Corinthians 4:16–18 ESV)

Oh, I want to have that kind of perspective!  I want to keep my life focused on what endures – eternal values!  I want to put my attention, efforts and energy in what transcends this life!  I’m not ready to “throw in the towel!”  Hope you aren’t either!

A repost from “Coffee with the Lord” 2014 on this fine spring morning…

Here’s what you should do this fine spring morning… Put some beautiful spring music on your device (perhaps some with even the sounds of nature… you know, birds singing, brooks murmuring, even rain pattering…) And then read with relish, gratefulness and praise this “Song of Spring” (that’s what I call it) from the Bible. Be sure to read the whole thing… It will be a great way to start your day… I promise!

“Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed. O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come! When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions. Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple! By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas!

“The one who by his strength established the mountains, being girded with might; who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples, so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs. You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy! You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it. You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with abundance. The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy, the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.” (Psalm 65 ESV)

Ever been homesick?  People may grin, chuckle a bit, and give one another that “raised eyebrow look” at the idea of being homesick… but being “homesick” is real!  For several years I served as dean of students at a university and every semester I had a few students that were actually “ill” with “homesickness!”  Call it whatever you want to… heightened nostalgia, relational dependence or deprivation (I am sure my counsellor friends have a technical name for it) but being “homesick” is real!

I think there is a sense in which some form of “homesickness” is what King David might have experienced alone in the wildness of Judah, when he was deprived of the presence of God he sensed when he went to God’s house.  Here is what he said about in in Psalm 63…

“O God, you are my God! I long for you! My soul thirsts for you, my flesh yearns for you, as in a dry and parched land where there is no water.  Yes, in the sanctuary I have seen you, and witnessed your power and splendor!  Because experiencing your loyal love is better than life itself, my lips will praise you!  For this reason I will praise you while I live!  In your name I will lift up my hands!  As if with choice meat you satisfy my soul!  My mouth joyfully praises you, whenever I remember you on my bed, and think about you during the nighttime hours.  For you are my deliverer; under your wings I rejoice.  My soul pursues you!  Your right hand upholds me” (Traditional title: A psalm of David, written when he was in the Judean wilderness.  From Psalm 63:1-8)

Anyone who has ever experienced and known the wonderful presence of God in their life, and then gone through a dry spell (either because of spiritual drift, sin or just “a season” in their spiritual journey) will identify with David’s expression of “spiritual homesickness!”  My advice?  If sin has caused you to feel the loss of His presence, acknowledge it to Him and ask for His forgiveness.  If it spiritual drift, and you, like the prodigal, feel like you’re in a distant land gnawing on the empty, dirty husks of this world, why not humble yourself, head “home” and ask the “Heavenly Father” to receive you (He will, you know)!  And if it’s just “a season” that we sometimes go through as “spiritual pilgrims,” my advice is to press through it and make the words of this Psalm your personal, passionate expression to a Living God, whose “steadfast love” is incredible and real!